Six Months
by altiversewatcher
Summary: Dumbledore tells Severus Snape to take a six month haitus after Voldemort is defeated. In that six months a lot of things happen and they just keep getting worse.
1. chapter 1

By: bitmaxmouse Rating: pg-13 Summary: Dumbledore tells Severus Snape to take a six month haitus after Voldemort is defeated. In that six months a lot of things happen and they just keep getting worse.  
  
Notes: I wrote this because I was really bored and on stuff. Formula for writing this story. read all Harry Potter Books for the first time in 1 week + watched JKF the following weekend + get all four wisdom teeth pulled + doped up on Vicodin = a 100+ paged first time Harry Potter fanfic written in 3 days. Have fun.  
  
~~~ Snape POV  
  
In times of desperation, one tends to make many mistakes.  
  
And in the second winter following Voldemort's return, Voldemort panicked and attacked.  
  
With most of the Death Eaters gone, the majority of which were dead and the remaining few being taken away to Azkaban, Voldemort had realized this ultimate mistake of overestimating himself.  
  
He had reached the cavernous secret location that he and Wormtail had escaped to. However, without thinking, (As I reflect, I must say that I was probably mad) I quickly followed in after them, bent on my own revenge against Voldermort. He would pay for what he did to me those years ago. I was only a boy before, I should have known better than to join him. but I still did. And thus suffered the consequences.  
  
(Flashback)  
  
The pain was beyond that of the Cruciatus curse. With the cold settling into my bones, I could feel the slowing rush of my blood and gradually slowing heartbeat. I was nearly a bloody pulp. With barely enough blood left, I had escaped with the help of Karkaroff, who had been the only one sympathetic to my near death state.  
  
He was the only who dared to run to the center of the freezing marble circular room I was tortured in and carry me back out after Voldemort had left with the few Death Eaters that had been present. My failure to kill my mother whom I cared for deeply had cost me. It had been a test of my loyalty and I had been unsuccessful in fulfilling this task. Voldemort killed her in the end anyways. And then Voldemort had left me to suffer after hours of torture. he didn't expect Karkaroff would come back to help me. He expected me to crawl out, nearly dead and beg to go back to him.  
  
Everyone knew Voldemort feared Dumbledore, thus Karkaroff believed that Hogwarts would be the ideal location to leave me in. With whatever energy I had left in me, I gazed up at Karkaroff and muttered, "You're mad. He'll just kill me too."  
  
Karkaroff looked down hard at me, "Do vyou plan on returning to ve Dark Lord?!"  
  
I didn't even need to think as I instantly shook my head weakly.  
  
"V'You see?" He muttered in his heavy German accent. I frowned, I didn't see. I didn't understand. All I could think was that I was going to die in the hands of Voldemort's greatest enemy. A wizard who had been my enemy (up until Voldemort's order for me to kill my mother) would now have the opportunity to kill me. All I could think now in my delirious haze was, 'I hope he makes it fast.'  
  
He laid me onto the front doorstep of the castle and knocked as hard and loud as he could. And just as quickly as he came, he left.  
  
Now. now I was waiting for death, either here on this doorstep or by the hands of Dumbledore. Time seemed to have slowed down to the pace of viscous liquid. Each echoing step coming down could be heard with excessive clarity. They were like the tolls of the death bell before an execution. The heavy squeaking front doors opened a crack, letting out a bit of light and warmth. I would have leaned forward towards it if I could still move.  
  
I heard a female gasp and I opened one of my blackened eyes just a tiny slit to the sight of black pointy shoes and a green dress that could have only belonged to Miss McGonagall.  
  
"Oh my!" She cried out as I heard her breath unevenly, "I must get Albus."  
  
Then everything else was a blur as the edges of everything bled together and sounds now only echoed in my head. Memories of my life flashed slowly and everything pulsed, synchronized to my heartbeat.  
  
There was only one moment of clarity before I blacked out. I had mustered enough strength to barely make out the person carrying me, Dumbledore. And I whispered, "Make it quick."  
  
(Flashback end)  
  
Of course he didn't make it 'quick', he didn't even do it at all. I had almost been disappointed when I found myself being healed in the school's hospital wing by Madam. Pomfrey. And everything from then on was history..  
  
~~~  
  
I saw the end of Wormtail's tail as it sprinted around the corner; I sped up and took a sharp turn, running as hard as I could. However, as I suddenly stopped in the middle of a large room, the doors behind me closed with a dooming thud. It was a trap.  
  
I quickly turned, only to find Lord Voldemont was right behind me. He let out a sickening cruel laugh. I froze with fear, wand useless at my side. Suddenly he let out painfully large blast from his wand. "Crucio!"  
  
The pain laced through my veins as I fell forwards and lay useless on my side. I didn't even realize that I was screaming until my throat felt hoarse. Then he started to make several flicks of his wand, cutting deep all over my body. The pain from the cuts seemed to wake me from my stunned state. I raised my wand while lying on the ground and scream,  
  
"Expellarimus!"  
  
But Lord Voldemont did a counter attack quickly. Then he disappeared and reappeared on the left side of me, he then placed a foot on my deeply cut abdomen and stepped down as hard as he could. More of my screams echoed in the room. Then he kept sending more Cruciatus curses. I realized that he was going to do the same thing to me as he did fifteen years ago. He made another swiping motion with his want, cutting deep into my chest. Then he kicked hard into my stomach. Suddenly the world blurred as I tasted blood rising in my mouth.  
  
"I should have finished you off last time. Avada K-" he started the killing curse.  
  
But nothing came and suddenly Lord Voldemort let out a scream as a double blast of Avada Kedavra hit him square in the chest. I wished I could move to see who had sent the blasts. but I didn't matter now, the Dark Lord was dead.  
  
Soon blackness descended, but not before I heard Dumbledore whisper, "I'll be alright." ~~~  
  
I woke up to the sight of Madam Promfrey ambling over to me with a couple of healing potions, she broke into a smile, "Ah, you're awake."  
  
I just nodded, still too weak to even want to speak.  
  
Then she frowned, "How come every time you get brought into my hospital wing, you're always almost dead?"  
  
I shrugged. She sat me up and made me drink five different vials of potions. They were to help heal my internal wounds, external wounds, and nasty bruises I got from being kicked around. After she was done, she walked out of the room. However, seconds later, Dumbledore walked in.  
  
He gave a sympathetic smile, "I'm not going to ask how you feel because I know you feel horrible."  
  
I nodded as I swallowed a bit, my throat felt cottony. My head still throbbed, which made my eyes heavy. Dumbledore put a hand on my shoulder, "After you're healed. I want you take a long break my boy. I'll bring in a temporary teacher to teach potions. You can start again in September. It's March right now, you'll have six months."  
  
I looked at Dumbledore as if he was mad and let out a struggled word, "Why?"  
  
"You need to recuperate and besides I need to find a more permanent teacher for Potions."  
  
"You're letting me go?!" I suddenly moved up and then let out a yell of pain as I fell back.  
  
"No. Calm down, my boy. I was thinking that it would be nice to have a more reliable and experienced Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Even Mr. Lupin has never faced Voldemort." He smiled as I gaped.  
  
"But you never gave me that job, I applied for it ever since I came. Why now?"  
  
"Because I think you're ready now." Then he let out an amused hum, "Let's just hope that you stay longer than the last six teachers we've had and break the curse behind the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position."  
  
Then he gently rose as Madam Pomfry walked in with an angry expression on her face. She was muttering about how I wouldn't get better if Dumbledore kept provoking me. Then, right before he disappeared behind the doorway, he turned around and said, "Go home Severus."  
  
~~~~  
  
The velvet evening sky bled into to the remaining glow of light in the distance beyond the hills. I shifted my belongings as my arms grew weary of carrying them. I had not dared to levitate my luggage next to me in front of Muggles. I looked around, feeling peculiar that my mother had owned such a place.  
  
The quiet house was still in good condition, regardless of its uninhabitance for over a decade. I vaguely suspected that my mother had paid someone to maintain the house even after their death, perhaps in hopes that I would come back one day.  
  
I ran my fingers of the address:  
  
1579 Livat Rd. *  
Madison, New York  
  
(Flashback)  
  
My response to the goblin was to raise an eyebrow of annoyance as he asked too many questions. Mutely, I handed him the golden key to my mother's safe.  
  
He studied it for a moment and called for one of the smaller goblins to take me to the vault. The ride had been a bit disorienting, however the darkness helped to ease away some of the loops and sudden jerks. We finally arrived in front of a large circular door, larger than the ones used for keeping money. Inside the door, there were hundreds and thousands of metal lockers.  
  
The small goblin disappeared into the back for a while and came back with a box that had the numbers which matched the key I had handed to him. He nodded curtly at me as he placed both the key and box onto an empty table.  
  
"Come out after you're done, I shall be waiting outside." The goblin growled in his tiny voice and promptly left me alone.  
  
I picked up the key from the table and studied it for a second, then inserted it into the lock. The box gave a satisfying click as the lid popped back. The box contained two large yellow envelopes. Within the first envelope was a set of keys, documents and certificates of ownership to a house in New York. In the second envelope held a passport, ID card, birth of certificate and few other miscellaneous documents. The name on the birth certificate was:  
  
OWEN LEIGH  
  
I could almost feel my heart stop. I seen or heard that name for nearly 25 years. Leigh was my mother's last name and Owen Snape was my name before I ran away from home. I had run away so long ago at the age of 11 to keep my father from sending me to Durmstrang. I had wanted to go to Hogwarts so badly, but my father insisted that I go to Durmstrang since there were more purebloods there. With only a bit of savings, I managed to get to Hogwarts, however I didn't have enough left to buy me anything else. So I toiled away for month at odds and end jobs and started Hogwarts late due to lack of money to buy books.  
  
My shabby state and desperation to keep up good grades to improve my life made me a target amongst my peers. Especially James and his friends.  
  
I tossed the certificate back into the box quickly. Then I opened the passport and found a brown haired boy with hazel eyes looking back happily. This was how I looked like before my father had given me the potion to turn my hair and eyes black, to make me look older, and other things. His reason for doing this was that I looked 'too innocent and vibrant' to learn the Dark Arts and to be taken seriously.  
  
I guess I had forgotten about that, after all these years I had always looked sickly with pasty white skin with greasy black hair and beady black eyes. I was used to the disgusted and fearful looks from people. I wondered how I would look like if I were to turn back to my original appearance after all these years.  
  
I placed the remaining things that were in the yellow envelope, back in. I would look over them more carefully after I took them home. However as I did this, I noticed a small white envelope at the bottom, underneath the yellow envelopes. I quickly opened it, from the looks of it, it seemed like my mother's writing. I quickly read it:  
  
Dear Owen,  
  
I don't know when you'll see this letter. It could be years into the future or you may never see it. Either way, I wrote it because I believed that you needed to know the truth; the truth behind your father and my arguments and everything else. But I hope you know that I was so in love with your father when I first met him, so I didn't tell him until later. I never anticipated how angry he would be. The truth is that your grandmother on my side was a Muggle. I am half and thus you're a quarter Muggle. I'm so sorry, all your life your father kept telling you that you were a pureblood. was a lie. I now know how much of an emphasis he put on being purebloods so I never told you because I didn't want to destroy you. I figured that you could handle this at an older age. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.  
  
I gave an ironic laugh at this point. Head of the Slytherin house. a non- pureblood. Then I frowned a bit as I remembered calling girls (like Lily) Mudbloods. how ironic. I continued to read:  
  
.Other things enclosed in this box are the keys, deeds, and documents to your Grandmother's house and horses. She left them to me after she passed away and I now leave them to you. Everything is paid off. I also left you the numbers and passwords to a number of banks that your Grandmother had saved money in. Just because your Grandmother was a Muggle, it didn't mean she was useless. In fact just the opposite, she used to be a very high up authority in the government and we lived near the Pentagon when I was younger. Over time she accumulated a number of important classified documents, assets, and quite a large sum of money. All of which you shall have access to now. I can only hope that you use them wisely.  
  
I love you and I can only hope that you go home one day even if I'm not around anymore.  
  
Love,  
Andrea Leigh  
  
(end flashback)  
  
~~~  
  
The house actually held more things than I had anticipated. Many of the rooms had furniture all covered in white cloth to prevent damage to them. I was about to say "Lumos!" when I first entered the house. However I noticed the light switch to my right, so I put my wand away. The house was very spacious. When you walked into the front door, the narrow hallway gave the impression of smaller house, however if you turned around the corner, you would be greeted by a large circular entrance hall with a display table in the middle. There was a circular stair case along the wall on the right side.  
  
At the top of the stair case there was an open game room with a large pool table in the middle, and a rack on the wall next to it with four pool sticks, two bridges, and 13 pool balls. To the left side, there were four small guest rooms, to the right there were three rooms. The three doorways to the three rooms seemed so close together that it gave the false impression of the rooms being very small. The door on the left led to a library study, there were even stairs in this room which would lead to a small enclosure on the rooftop which actually had a telescope pointing out. The door in the right led to Master bedroom. The center door led to the bathroom, and the bathroom had doors on both sides which connected the study to the bedroom.  
  
After walking around for so long and from the Apparation from earlier, I could feel myself growing tired as my bruises still throbbed. I still hadn't completely healed yet. Even now, I had to change the dressings wrapped around my abdomen every few days.  
  
The bed in the master bedrooms looked terribly inviting. I collapse and fell asleep almost instantly. So weak and tired, I didn't even bother to change.  
  
Cont.  
  
Note: for those who aren't too busy and don't mind, can you help me beta this? 


	2. chapter 2

Note: Suddenly decided to change from 1st person POV to narration. Sorry. ~~~  
  
The next morning, feeling far better than last night, Snape climbed out of bed and headed to bathroom to take a shower. The bathroom was actually very clean, spotless even, like no one had used it at all, there were even clean towels on the racks (which confirmed his theory that someone came here once in a while to clean the place.) He looked at himself in the mirror and shuddered a bit.  
  
God he looked horrible. There were dark vivid violet colored bags under his eyes, his skin looked paler and pastier than usual. Slowly he touched his face and let out a deep sigh. Last night was the first time in several weeks where he was so tired that he had a dreamless sleep. Before that, he would wake up every night in cold sweat or in complete pain. And every nightmare kept replaying both times he had been tortured by the Dark Lord, meshing the memories together. And sometimes they would be traded with dreams of every person he had killed years before. Ashamed, he could barely look at himself and turned away quickly. He then stared at the shower.  
  
As he let out a deep sigh and planned on leaving the bathroom to retrieve some clothes, he suddenly came upon a picture. it was photo of his mother when she was about three, his mother was laughing in delight as she ran across the field holding a enormous circular wire and making bubbles that were twice the size of Quaffles. Suddenly an idea formed in his head and as he hurried over to the trunk where he had placed his many potions.  
  
~~~ (one week later)  
  
'The feeling is so strange, like a shiver staring from my head and ending at my toes.' Snape thought as he ran a hand through his wet hair.  
  
It had taken him a week to brew and he spent most of his time reading potion books or eating the food conjured with his wand. (He didn't really want to go out into the Muggle world and purchase food.) As he read about how to undo the appearance changing potion (not the poly juice potion, that potion was only supposed to turn you into someone else.), he had read into it more thoroughly and suddenly everything made more sense. According to the potions books, if the appearance changing potion mixed some elements that were opposing each other, it would cause the person to look sickly and be more temperamental. It was because their body was rejecting the potion.  
  
He first noticed that the potion was taking affect when a sort of relief passed through his body. Then slowly, as he washed his hair (making sure to shampoo three times to get rid of the greasiness), he noticed that some of the loose hair strands were no longer black, but varying shades of brown. he touched his face a bit, it wasn't as gaunt as before.  
  
A sort of anticipation rose inside of him as he quickly finished his shower. As he got out, he quickly grabbed a towel to dry himself and put one some clothes. Then, leaving the cloth damp used on the floor, he steadily treaded over to the mirror and wiped the dewy fog from the surface.  
  
He gasped. His hair was a light brownish gold color; darker near the roots and a bit of blond in the front. The texture was also different. Instead of the stringy, wiry hair he was used to, it was softer and finer now. His eyes were hazel now with flecks of green, orange, and yellow. However, the most noticeable change was his skin, it was definitely different, instead of a pale pasty white, it was still a bit pale but at least it had some color now. His cheeks were a bit flushed from the heat of the shower. He looked alive.  
  
'If my students saw me now, they'd never think I was a vampire ever again.'  
  
He gave a sort of unbelievable laugh and then looked down at his attire, which actually looked a bit too somber on him now. 'I've got to purchase some new clothes.later' he thought to himself. He took off the stiff black shirt he usually wore and decided to just wear the thinner white shirt underneath. It was nearing summer anyways.  
  
Feeling like the world had been lifted off his shoulders, he walked lightly down the steps and decided to explore the rest of the house. And one by one, as he passed by each room, he pulled the white covers off of the furniture.  
  
There was a guest room near the front and a hall, which divided it from the formal dining room. Near the back, the living room, the informal dining room and the kitchen were more or less connected since there weren't any walls dividing them. Most of the wall in the back consisted of large glass panel which slid away so that you could walk into the back yard. In the distance, whinnying could be heard from a stable located about twenty five feet from the house.  
  
Curious, he decided to go put on his shoes and investigate the stable.  
  
Sure enough, there were two horses in the stable. One was brown and black bay and the other was a nice light brown horse with a star on her forehead. He tentatively petted both on head. Then Severus looked down at the signs below each horse, the bay's name was Sam and the brown horse with a star was named Lena. The horses liked the attention of being petted; so continued to do so for a while. Sometimes also rubbed their velvet muzzle and handing them some straw to eat from the bucket on the side. There was a shed connected to the stable and inside there were cleaning supplies, saddles, bridles, food, and other objects he couldn't really identify.  
  
When he returned to the house, it was about lunch time, but the refrigerator was completely empty since he had finished everything he had last night. He conjured some food and sat at the informal dining table and ate quietly as he looked out through the glass doors.  
  
~~~  
  
Severus frowned as he watched himself in the mirror, 'I can't even sneer correctly.'  
  
Severus tried again, this time with the death glare he usually used on Longbottom. To his disappointment, he just looked a bit grumpy.  
  
Snape indignantly huffed at the mirror and walked away. 'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.'  
  
However, later that night, Snape discovered that he didn't have enough of a very rare ingredient, Tuatara skin, to turn himself back.  
  
Snape tossed the book away in disgust, 'This has to be some huge cosmic joke.'  
  
~~~ Weeks dragged on and Snape started stalk around the house doing nothing. He was immensely irritated and wanted to break something, but found that he could not. 'Damn stupid body. Can't even throw a tantrum correctly.'  
  
Severus went upstairs and laid down on his bed. One of the reasons why he was in such a horrible mood was because he hadn't been able to sleep at all, not without a sleep potion, but the problem with the sleep potion was that the next morning he would be completely sick and throw up.  
  
After throwing up for the fifth time, he decided against taking the potion anymore. Anything with such a potent side effect couldn't be good for his stomach.  
  
Snap closed his eyes and covered his face with the back of his right hand to keep out the light streaming in from the window to the room. The nightmares had generally all been the same except with different people. Always with Voldemort standing behind his shoulder and directing him to kill someone. He always had a different potion, with different sickening effects. Some dropped people dead like an Avra Kedvadra, which were actually far better than some of the other potions. Other that were more gruesome would turn people inside out, disintegrate their bodies, melt them. the list went on. And nearly every night this week, he had only one hour of sleep per day. No one could sleep after waking from nightmares like that.  
  
But the worst part of all. was that they weren't nightmares. They were all the deaths he had caused when he worked for Voldemort. even as a spy for Dumbledore.  
  
Severus turned and lay on his side for a while, taking his hand away from his face. He stared into space, thinking of nothing. But as his quiet day dreaming faded, his vision fell upon his wand, lying there on the small lamp table lying next to the bed. He reached out and picked it up. Suddenly more flashed came to mind, groups of Muggles screaming as he and Lucius 'had fun' practicing Avra Kevadra on the Muggles while Voldemort laughed in amusement.  
  
Snape quickly tossed his wand away in disgust. Then he let his hand dangle down the side of the bed and he felt it touch a small knob. Severus looked down and saw that the bottom of the bed had drawers. He swiftly tossed his legs over and then knelt down in front of the drawers, they were empty.  
  
Suddenly, he had an idea, he quickly reached over to his wand and tossed it into the middle empty drawers. 'Just don't use magic for a while, no wand, no potions, maybe it'll help the dreams go away.'  
  
~~~  
  
After he had resolved to not use magic for a while he had forgotten that he needed a wand to conjure food. At first he was tempted, but then he finally settled on going to town for lunch. He had Muggle money, I couldn't be that bad.  
  
Unfortunately, he seemed to have not realized how long it took to walk into town, especially with the houses so far apart. By the time he reached the edge of town (around 3:00pm), his wounds were acting up again and throbbing. Now he didn't care about where he ate he just wanted to sit down and rest.  
  
He wandered over to dingy looking bar which vaguely reminded him of the Hog's Head in Hogsmead. Snape quietly sat down on one of the vinyl swiveling chairs at the bar and the bartender, a young lean man who looked about 20, came over, "Hi, what can I get you?"  
  
"Do you serve food here?" Severus asked.  
  
The young man nodded and pull a menu out from beneath the counter. Severus perused the menu for a bit and finally decided on fish and chips, at least it was something he recognized.  
  
He ate his meal in solitude. That is, until a blond haired girl with red and black streaks in her hair sat down next to him. Severus gave a sideways glance at her, wondering why she hadn't taken any of the other empty seats around the bar.  
  
The bar tender walked up to the girl, "Hey Cecily."  
  
The girl smiled, "Hey Freddie. Can I get some water?"  
  
Freddie nodded as he eyed her cautiously and then headed into the back.  
  
Cecily turned to Severus, smiling at him flirtatiously. "Hey there. I haven't seen you around before. You a tourist?"  
  
Severus glowered at her (however, he later learned that with his new change, his glares didn't have the same effect as they used to. In fact, he only looked like he was staring intently at someone now.), "No. Just moved here temporarily. visiting."  
  
Cecily smirked as she leaned a bit closer, she drawled in a low seductive tone, "Nice accent."  
  
Severus raised an eyebrow, 'Is this woman flirting with me?!' a sort of wonder passed through him since no one had ever showing any interest in him at all in his life. '.Probably because you looked like a slimy, greasy vampire.' His mind sniggered.  
  
Freddy came back with a glass of water and Cecily thanked him. Then she turned back to Severus. "Hi," She held her hand out, "I'm Cecily Garrison."  
  
Severus hesitated for a bit and then decided that it would seem strange if he didn't shake hands with her, " I'm S. Owen Leigh."  
  
Cecily nodded as she rolled the name around in her mind, "That's a nice name."  
  
Severus gave a weak smile, "Thank you."  
  
"Are you from Britain?"  
  
"London."  
  
"Ah, thought so. Accent.. So, how long are you staying?"  
  
"About six months. I have a place in London, " Severus started to talk, slowly settling into the light conversation, " I'm just out here visiting this estate that I inherited from my Grandmother."  
  
"Where is it?"  
  
"Livat Road."  
  
"OH!" Cecily let out a startled yelp, causing Severus to flinch. "It's that really nice house that no one has lived in for like. twenty years!"  
  
Severus looked at her, restraining himself for remarking nastily at her outburst, 'She's not your student. Just act calm, don't snap at her. The Muggles might find you strange if you act too hostile.'  
  
"Yes, I guess so."  
  
Cecily nodded thoughtfully, as she did so, she snatched a fry off of his plate.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"Well you've left it alone for like fifteen minutes, I assumed that you didn't want it anymore."  
  
Severus scowled, but Cecily didn't even notice as she took another fry smugly. Finally he gave in and pushed his plate over to her, "Fine have the rest. I'm done anyways."  
  
Cecily gave him a big smiled and started to finish of the rest of the food on the plate.  
  
The two of them talked for a while longer until Cecily finished the fries. Severus started to stand up, "I should be going now."  
  
Cecily followed him as he walked outside, Severus suppressed another urge to yell at her to "bugger off".  
  
"You walked here?!" Cecily yelled, causing Snape to jump again. 'Damn this woman!'  
  
Severus took a deep breath, "Yes I did, do you have problem with that?"  
  
"But that's like a three hour walk!"  
  
"I applaud your observation."  
  
"Oh come on. It's the least I can do after I stole your fries." Cecily grabbed Severus' arm and dragged him over to her car. "Get in."  
  
Severus glared at the Muggle machine as if it were about to bite him, he was fine walking back. But his wounds throbbed a bit in protest. Cecily gave an exasperated sigh as she opened the door on the passenger side and shoved him in as she muttered, "Stupid stubborn men."  
  
He sat down in the vehicle, looking at all the strange dials and buttons. Cecily came in the other side. "Buckle up."  
  
Severus looked at her, 'Buckle up? What's that? But my shoes don't have buckles."  
  
Cecily took a strange flat rope on her side and slide it across her abdomen and chest and inserted it into a lock with a quiet click. She looked at the lock on his side, "Come on! Buckle up! I'm not paying for you if we crash and you fly out of the car and die."  
  
Getting the message a little better, Severus did the same thing as she did once he found the rope on his side.  
  
Satisfied, Cecily smiled as she turned the key and started the car. As they were driving for a bit, Cecily turned to Severus, "So, why didn't you drive into town?"  
  
"I don't know how to."  
  
"Really?!..." Then she thought for a bit, "Oh, I guess the fact that London has a pretty good transportation system, you don't really need to drive."  
  
Soon they approached an empty dirt opening, Severus frowned, "Where are we?"  
  
Cecily got out of the driver's seat and headed to his side, she reached over and unbuckled his seatbelt, "Scoot over, I'm going to teach you how to drive."  
  
She unceremoniously shoved him into the driver's seat. Severus grumbled, "Stupid bloody bird. Bloody daft."  
  
Severus finally straightened himself in the driver's seat and buckled up like Cecily instructed. Cecily started to talk about the controls and the buttons on the vehicle. She pointed to them and told him what they did. This actually wasn't too difficult if he thought about it. Then she finally told him to start the car.  
  
Severus reached forward to where the key was and turned it, holding it down like Cecily instructed. The car started with a satisfying 'vroom' Then Cecily pointed to the stick on the right, next to him. He reached down and pulled the lever back until the line next to the letter D glowed orange. Then the car started to move forward slowly, Cecily pointed at the two levers under his foot, "Remember the left one is the brake and the right is the accelerator."  
  
Severus slammed foot down on the brakes heavily, which caused the car to lurch forward and then stop. Cecily held up a hand and started to yell, "Jesus! When using the brake, press down softly! Roll your foot."  
  
One hour later, Severus was finally getting used to the feeling of driving, he no longer drove jerkily. The car now smoothly accelerated and slowed down. Soon enough, he was driving the way home without any problems.  
  
As Severus exited the car Cecily poked her head out the window of the driver's seat, "If you need any help, my house is only three houses down from here. It's like a ten minute walk. I can take you into town anytime you want."  
  
He nodded and thanked Cecily as she cheerily drove away. Snape stopped at the front door as he pulled his keys house, "That wasn't so bad."  
  
Severus smiled at himself and went into the house.  
  
~~~ note: laughs. sorry about that whole appearance changing thing (for those of you who thought it was stupid...) But really, Alan Rickman looks wonderful in real life. I mean, I nearly fell over when I saw how different he looked from Snape.  
  
If you've never been curious as to how Alan Rickman looks like. Go to Google and type in his name (sorry, I can't provide a link)  
  
(that pic above doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the Warner Bros, from the harry potter site) 


	3. chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
One day at lunch, the door bell rang. Severus looked around wildly, until he realized that it was the doorbell. He quietly walked to the front door and looked through the eyehole, 'Who would come see me?'  
  
Of course it was Cecily.  
  
He opened the door, "Hello."  
  
Cecily smiled as she fidgeted, a bit too excitedly, "Come on Owen!"  
  
Severus' eyes widened, "Where are we going?"  
  
"Somewhere very cool. Now come on." Cecily motioned forward. Snape hesitated, but she was faster and latched onto his wrist, "Let's go, I'm not letting you squirrel out of this one."  
  
Eventually, they were driving towards another town. well. city. Cecily turned to him, "How much money do you have on you?"  
  
Severus pulled out a pouch, from within he pull out a roll that was made out of five one hundred dollar bills. Cecily looked at him strangely and mumbled to herself,"Okay. You're going to get a wallet too." Then in a louder voice, " Why don't you have your money in a bank?"  
  
"Uh. I do, but I can't. access my money from here."  
  
Cecily glanced at him for as second and then shrugged. "It's okay. I guess."  
  
They entered some sort off tunnel under a tall building, 'Something the Muggles call a parking garage.' Severus thought to himself as he glanced at the sign outside the tunnel.  
  
They headed to a lift in the garage and Severus watched at Cecily pressed the button 7, which then glowed orange and moved the lift. When the lift finally reached level 7, the automated voice spoke: "Level Seven, Men's clothing and accessories."  
  
Severus looked around the lift trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. 'Strange. these Muggle machines.'  
  
Cecily soon dragged him through racks of clothes and eventually shoved him into the changing room with a mound that was so high that he could barely see in front of him.  
  
Three hours later.  
  
Severus glared at Cecily hatefully, she had made him try on at least a hundred different items of clothing already. His legs and feet were sore (from trying on shoes), his abdomen throbbed and his arms felt like they were going to fall off from the sheer number of bags he was holding. When they had gone to the check out counter, the lady looked utterly stunned at the sheer amount of clothes. Several of the customers behind them grumbled and headed off in different directions in search of a different counter.  
  
In the end, the total came to nearly four hundred dollars. Severus was going to protest loudly. Then Cecily pointed at a red sign above the racks, then she pulled out a small square of parchment and a red card. Their expense immediately dropped to one hundred and eighty three dollars. This left him gaping, 'What? How on earth do these Muggles do business?! Dropping the price to less than half!'  
  
As they left Severus handed Cecily half the bag, she whined for a bit and then finally took them when she threatened to push her into the fountain they had walked by. He looked at the bags he was holding, "How did you do that?"  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"I mean, it did cost four hundred dollars."  
  
"Oh that, hehe. well, the last time I was here. I got detained by the security since they had thought I stole some jewelry. Later, I was exonerated, and as a way of saying sorry for taking up my time and accusing me, they gave me this nice seventy five dollar certificate."  
  
Then Cecily sniggered, "You know, they never caught the person who stole the jewelry."  
  
Severus eyed Cecily, her voice sounded mistrustful, "Oh~ and why is that?"  
  
Cecily shrugged, but there was a glint in her eyes.  
  
On the way back to the 'parking garage', Cecily bought a bag full of bakery items for him.. ("So you won't starve!"), a wallet, and some books (which actually was the highlight of his trip).  
  
Severus sat in the car with five books in his lap. He glanced over them, and read the backs of each. "The Great Gatsby". "Slaughterhouse Five". "Catcher in the Rye" (Cecily insisted on this book). "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". "And Brave New World".  
  
They didn't sound bad and he had planned on reading "Brave New World" first, but Cecily eventually bribed him by telling him that she'd bring him more books if he read "Catcher in the Rye" first. He rolled he eyes, 'It's only about some stupid kid who can't stop whining.'  
  
~~~  
  
Over the next week, thunderstorms rolled in, so he couldn't go out, he stayed in his house and read as he had some hot cocoa and marshmallows (which Cecily brought for him, he was wary of the floating white fluffs at first until she rolled here eyes at him and shoved one into this mouth.). Wrapped in the comforter from upstairs, Severus sat near the glass walls as he read.  
  
He had managed to finish "Catcher in the Rye", which actually wasn't bad at all, It was sort of profound in a way. He had also finished the "Brave New World", which was a very entertaining book (Cecily promised to bring another similar book , "1984"). And now he was reading "The Great Gatsby", which was proving more interesting with every page he turned.  
  
'I guess Muggle literature isn't bad. too bad I made fun of Granger all that time she kept trying to make references to some Muggle books.'  
  
Next to him sat a Webster's dictionary, a very large encyclopedia, and the Macmillan visual dictionary, all of which Cecily had brought in after he asked too many 'stupid' questions. For example, there was that one time he asked Cecily what football was, since it was mentioned in one of the books, Cecily had looked strangely at him and then it dawned to her that football had a different name in England, she replied saying that it was about the same thing as rugby. Unfortunately, he didn't know what rugby was either.  
  
Then there was that other time he asked her what California was. Cecily had deadpanned and then ran out of the house. She came back thirty minutes later with the three reference books so that he would stop asking questions that any ten year old knew.  
  
He really enjoyed the Macmillan visual dictionary. It was actually far more helpful than the encyclopedia and the dictionary since it offered pictures which helped him visualize the things in the books.  
  
Today the rain poured even heavier than the last two days. Earlier he had walked out in the rain to visit the horses, who where actually very dry, but a bit cold, so he pull out the two blankets in the shed and placed them over the grateful horses. As he came back in, soaking wet, he saw Cecily staring at him strangely again.  
  
"Are you insane?! Why'd you go out into that weather without an umbrella?!"  
  
Severus blinked, "Umbrella?" (He never had to worry about rain in the past since certain spells kept him dry)  
  
Cecily held up a wet stick with cloth attached at the end of it and waved it in his face, "Yes, an umbrella, it keeps you dry."  
  
"Oh." Severus said as he suddenly realized that was what Hagrid always carried around with him. 'That flimsy thing is supposed to block rain?'  
  
Cecily narrowed her eyes as she studied him, "This is strange, very strange."  
  
Severus gulped, "What is?"  
  
"The first time I see you, you're dressed like you're from the fifteenth century. Then you don't know a lot of things that any fourth grader would know and you're a middle aged man. It's almost as if you fell into the future.that or. something else."  
  
Severus shook his head, trying to deny what Cecily said, "You're crazed you know that you bloody bint! I'm fine!"  
  
"Who is the Prime Minister of England right now?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Any old geezer from London would know who the Prime Minister was, regardless of whether he watched the television." Cecily glanced at the black box (called a televis. or something), a few days ago, she had found out that he didn't know how to work the thing.  
  
"You are from London right?" Cecily confirmed.  
  
"I." Severus was stuck, what if this bloody woman found out that he didn't know any of this. She's send him into a Muggle hospital for mental patients. But if he told her the truth, could he trust her? Or would he end up in the mental hospital anyways. He'd only been around her for a little more than half a month. And would he get in trouble with the Ministry?.  
  
He didn't know why, he was probably temporarily insane at the moment ('I am experiencing this far too often'), but in the end, he managed to tell her the truth (well, excluding information about Voldemort and Death Eaters.)Afterwards he gave himself a good mental lashing about how his will was pathetically weak now. And didn't he used to be a spy? You'd think he'd know better than to blabber about everything.  
  
She had been quite skeptical at first, but she wasn't unreasonable like most Muggles were, she just nodded and then asked for a little bit of proof. He went upstairs to retrieve his wand. Then she showed her by transfiguring a cup into a cat and then back again. 'If she tries to expose me, I'll just put a memory charm on her anyways.'  
  
Cecily wasn't horrified or scared at all. All she did was nod and then mumbled something about "Susan's files. Hmm.That makes sense now."  
  
"What makes sense?" A bit of dread spread in Severus' stomach.  
  
Cecily sighed as she sat down on the black colored couch near him. "I haven't been completely honest with you. I mean, no one around here knows either. I'm sure you've heard stuff about me, how I'm a nice girl who just pops up here and there to help out."  
  
Severus nodded, recalling a conversation he had eavesdropped on last week.  
  
"But didn't you notice how I seem to have a lot of money? And yet I don't seem to have a job?"  
  
Now that he thought of it. "Yes."  
  
Cecily fidgeted a bit, while she played with the end of her sweatshirt that had the words 'Warped Tour 2000' written on it. "You can't tell anyone this."  
  
"If you keep my secret, I'll keep yours."  
  
Cecily nodded as she thought about it, "Alright.. Well, in the 'Muddle' ? ("Muggle") world, I'm called a Hacker. Which is a person who hacks. into computers. Hacking is usage of one's skill in computer programming to gain illegal or unauthorized access into a file or network."  
  
"Computer programming?" Severus frowned. He understood most of what she was saying. except for the main core.  
  
Cecily held up a finger, "Wait a second."  
  
She quickly dashed out of the house.  
  
A few moments later, she came back with a large black messenger bag. She pulled out a heavy black plastic rectangular box and set it onto the dining table. Then she dug in the bag and found several cords, which she used to connect to the wall and a few other apparatuses.  
  
Cecily opened the black box by lifting the lid up, it looked like a screen. She fiddled with a button in the back and the screen burst to life with colors.  
  
Cecily held her hands out, "This is a computer and the commands you put into a computer to make it do certain functions is called computer programming."  
  
Severus folded his arms, trying not to look too interested, but failing miserably as his eyes widened when the computer started to load. Cecily smirked. Then Severus turned to her, "Now you mentioned something about being illegal and unauthorized access?"  
  
Cecily grinned wider and turned to the computer to type in the password. "With this new technology available to us, most major companies, militaries, and governments have begun to use computers to hide their most secret information. My job is to find a way to gain access to the information without leaving a trace."  
  
"Job? Who's your employer?"  
  
"A defense company that the U.S. government uses. This is also one of the reasons why I'm no longer in jail."  
  
"No longer?"  
  
"Yes, stop parroting me. I was thrown in jail for about three years since I hacked into the U.S.'s central intelligence, called the Pentagon. Next day, FBI agents showed up at my door and took me away. I was later excused on the promise that I'd help the U.S. government hack into foreign government and to also help test new security systems."  
  
"So what are you doing around here? In the country area? Instead of some major city?" Snape asked. And these FBI agents. sounded like Aurors. Aurors worked closely with the Ministry.  
  
"Just because I work for the government, does mean I'm safe. There's always going to be people after me." Cecily finished. Then she turned to her computer and started to type away.  
  
Her job definitely sounded like his. Suddenly he remembered her comment from earlier after he told her about him being a wizard. "Wait. what are Susan's files?"  
  
Cecily froze. "Umm. well. I don't know how you'll react."  
  
Severus narrowed his eyes, this had to be bad. "Tell me."  
  
Cecily let out a hesitant sigh as she slouched, "Okay, from how you talk about us 'Muggles' I assume that you don't really think highly of us."  
  
Snape shrugged, "What does this have to do with."  
  
Cecily shook her head, "Listen. The problem with thinking in that manner is that, you underestimate us 'Muggles'."  
  
Severus paled as he pulled out a chair and sat across from Cecily so that they were looking at each other eye to eye. "What do you mean?"  
  
"The U.S. own over 300 satellites out of 750 that exist in space and these are only the documented ones. With these satellites, we can see everything that happens on this planet."  
  
"Everything?"  
  
"Everything. Including that wizard school in London that you told me about. Susan is one of my friends who works in a department which watches everything that goes on to make sure that nothing too suspicious will put the U.S. in danger. The reason the U.S. started this program was because there was too close of call with the Cuban Missile Crisis which happen in 1962. We've known about your wizard world for the last four decades. In fact, there's an entire room full of files on every wizard community that exists."  
  
Severus' mouth was open, his hands were shaking in his lap. These Muggles knew all about them? All those deterrent charms had no affect whatsoever if the Muggles could see everything they did from space. "W-wait."  
  
He couldn't believe this. what if this was a trick? "How do I know you're telling me the truth?"  
  
"I have no reason to lie to you."  
  
But Severus wasn't convinced, Cecily grumbled. She stuck her hand into her black bag and pulled out a strange device that opened up to reveal dish of some sort with an antenna sticking out the middle of it. "Fine then, if you don't believe me, I'll show you."  
  
Gaining access to the satellites Cecily talked about took about fifteen or so minutes, but they seemed like hours as the both of them waited for the laptop to load in the settings and connect to the satellites. Finally, the computer gave a sort of chirp sound, indicating that they were now connected. Severus watched the screen, it seemed a bit blurred at first, but it slowly came into focus. He could make out the outline of Europe. Cecily used the control on the side (the mouse) and clicked on the outline of Britain. The picture zoomed in. Then on England. The picture zoomed in more. Then she clicked on the grassy area. The outline of the Hogwarts train track soon came into focus. Then she clicked on a blurred object, north of a set of mountains.  
  
As the screen refocused, Severus gasped as he realized they were looking down at Hogwarts from a bird's eye view. You could also see the forbidden forest, Hagrid's cabin, the Quidditch field and the lake. The Cecily click a few keys on the keyboard and the picture zoomed in even more. Soon, Severus could see students, about the size of dots walking around the school as they went to their next classes. "Oh my god."  
  
Cecily gave him an 'I told you so' look. Severus sat down as he realized that he was standing up, with his face only a few centimeters from the screen. "I don't believe this.All those charms to keep Muggles away, they never worked! We never even considered that you could watch us from a space. "  
  
Cecily sat there watching him, she didn't really know what to say at all to his ramblings. What could one say to a man whose beliefs were suddenly turned upside down?  
  
~~~  
  
Eventually Severus got used to the idea and wasn't as stunned as before, but from then on, he gain a new found respect for Muggles. Cecily was fairly nice about it; she wasn't the type to rub it in his face, much to his relief. And now whenever he asked her a question, she no longer gave him strange looks, instead she just explained things to him and would try to cover everything she could. She would even tell him which facts to memorize since it was considered common 'Muggle' knowledge.  
  
Near the end of the third week, the spring shower ebbed away and the gloomy cloudy skies cleared to reveal a very bright cyan sky. And also on the day it stopped raining, the house keeper finally came for a visit.  
  
~~~  
  
Severus had been by the horse sheds again, feeding Lena and Sam. But the two horses were still a bit annoyed, since they hadn't been let out for almost three weeks. As he fed the horses, an elderly male voice spoke up, causing him to jump.  
  
"Well hello there, are you Owen Leigh?"  
  
Severus nodded mutely.  
  
The old man smiled, "Ah, Mrs. Leigh informed me in a letter that you might show up one day, just didn't know when it was." The old man gave a chuckle, "Well, It's nice to meet you Owen. I'm Eddie Smith, I've been hired by your mother to look after the Leigh estate."  
  
Eddie stuck his hand out. Severus shook his hand. Then Eddie petted Sam and fed him a carrot, he whinnied happily. Beside him, Lena looked longingly at the carrot Sam had devoured. Eddie pulled out two apple halves from his pocket, "Go on, give this to Lena, she like apples."  
  
Severus placed one half of the apple under Lena's mouth and she ate it greedily, making loud crunching sounds as she shook her head contently. Severus then gave her the other slice after she finished the first one. Eddie led Sam out of the stall. "Well, both of them need to be washed, groomed, and get a bit of exercise, they're both really restless and I need to clean out their stalls."  
  
Soon another voice from the fence called out, "Oh! I'll help!"  
  
It was a little girl, about the age of nine.  
  
"Ah! That's my granddaughter, Alice. Come on in Alice!" Alice, had brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail and freckles which vaguely reminded Severus of the Weasleys,  
  
'Let's just hope she's not as unintelligent as they seem to be.'  
  
Alice wore worn out overalls that seemed like hand me downs, however, Severus' theory was proved wrong when Alice decided to climb over the fence instead of opening the gate to come in.  
  
Eddie laughed as he shook his head. "A real tomboy she is. She will throw the biggest fit if her parents try to get her into a dress. But she's great with horses, you'll see, they all seem to trust her, even the meanest ones. Too bad she isn't as good at her studies." Then Eddie spoke louder as he called over to Alice, "I swear Alice, you're mom is gonna have a fit if you rip another pair of jeans. That's the second one this month."  
  
"But I had to climb that tree! Matt was making fun of how girls couldn't climb trees!"  
  
"You nearly broke your leg."  
  
Alice smirked. "But I didn't. Matt did, since I fell on him."  
  
"Wicked girl you are." Eddie muttered as he shook his head again and turned his attention back to Sam. "Can you teach Owen here to how to wash the horses?"  
  
Alice nodded. Eddie handed her the rope attached to Sam. "You take Sam and Owen here will take Lena."  
  
Eddie placed Lena's rope into Severus' hand. "Just give it small tug, she's real nice and smart, don't worry, she'll follow you."  
  
Severus followed Alice as they approached a concrete area with two posts that had several rings on them, 'I had wondered what this was for.'  
  
Alice efficiently tied Sam to one post and came around to tie Lena. Then she scampered off to retrieve the hoses. When she came back, the bottom of her jeans were a bit wet, since water was already flowing from both of the hoses and had managed to splash onto her. In her free hand, she held a bucket with soapy water with a few brushes floating inside.  
  
Alice instructed him how to wash the horses, "You want to brush them in circles. And don't put the hose in their face, they don't like that. (Alice handed him a small towel) Soak the towels and rub it around their face. When you're washing their mane, use the other brush and make sure you get more soap."  
  
Alice washed Sam quickly since he was a bit snippy and less inclined to stand still. After she finished with him, she took out a pick and cleaned his hoofs. Severus watched Alice as he stopped scrubbing Lena. Alice looked up, "Don't worry, I'll also do Lena, it takes practice to get them to bend their feet like that."  
  
Severus nodded.  
  
Eventually he also finished washing Lena and she happily nipped at his sleeves as he petted her damp mane.  
  
When suddenly he let out a yelp as cold water splashed down his back. He spun around angrily, "Who the hell?!"  
  
Of course, it was Cecily, "Oh oops."  
  
"Don't do that again." Severus snapped at her.  
  
"Do what? This?" She raised the hose in her hand and splashed him the face.  
  
"Dammit Woman!" Severus yelled, not noticed that Lena had backed away, a bit spooked at his outburst. He quickly dived towards the hose that he had been using and sprayed Cecily. She squealed as the cold water hit her and he ran at him with her own hose.  
  
The both of them manage to completely soak each other, but Severus was more thoroughly soaked since Cecily had put her thumb over the opening of her hose and send well place sprays at him. Severus was laughing but furious at the same time, "You stupid bitch!" He screamed and ran at her, shoving her onto the dirt that had become mud from their fight. He quickly sat on her abdomen, scooped up a handful of mud, and rubbed it into her hair. She let out a scream, "That's so gross!"  
  
Severus, for the first time in many years, let out a hearty laugh as he kept splatting mud onto Cecily. Suddenly Cecily took a handful of mud next to her and rub it into his face, then she shoved him aside, causing him to fall back into the mud. He started to spit out the mud that had gotten into his mouth.  
  
Eddie, who had come over at the sound of the commotion, cleared his throat. Alice who was standing near by, had stopped laughing and squeaked, "I didn't do it!"  
  
Eddie shook his head, "Alright you two. Go clean yourselves up. I'll call you out when the horses are dried and saddled, then you can take them out for a ride." Eddie then looked directly at Cecily, "Unbelievable Cecily. even if Alice doesn't get involved, you managed to get into a water fight every time."  
  
Cecily gave Eddie a stupid grin. Severus was looking at her, "Every time?"  
  
She nodded proudly.  
  
Then she dashed off towards the house, "I get first dibs on the bathroom!"  
  
"What?! No!" Severus yelled as he followed her as fast as he could.  
  
Eddie turned to Alice, "You better get Cecily's clothes in her car, I expect it's in the same spot as always."  
  
~~~  
  
Severus sat on the fence next to Cecily, with his damp brown hair dripping a bit. She had managed to beat him to the bathroom, leaving him muddy and soaked outside for about half an hour. Then, when she finally came out, she informed him that there was another bathroom downstairs. "Stupid bint."  
  
Cecily rolled her eyes, "Oh come off it. I heard that mud is good for your skin anyways."  
  
Severus turned to her and smirked, "You want to test that theory?"  
  
Cecily smirked, "Next time."  
  
As the watch on Cecily's hand indicated that it was three o' clock, Alice ran over, slightly out of breath, "Gramps said that the horses are ready."  
  
Cecily nodded and hopped off the fence. Severus did the same, but a bit awkwardly. The three of them walked over to Sam and Lena, who were saddled up. Eddie was holding the bridle, "I decided to put Western Saddles on them, it'll allow you more leverage on the trail."  
  
"Trail?" Severus asked Eddie.  
  
Eddie nodded and pointed behind him, "At the back of your estate is Shire woods, they've made a trail back there just for riders."  
  
Cecily nodded and thanked Eddie as she took Sam's bridle into her hands. Then Eddie handed Severus the bridle for Lena. Severus turned to Eddie, "I don't know how to get on."  
  
Alice hopped up and down, "Oh! I'll show you!"  
  
Severus turned to her and nodded, "Put your left foot into the stirrup. Then place your right hand on the back of the saddle. Then put your left hand on that knob at the front of the saddle. Yep, there you go. Now, pull yourself up."  
  
Severus tried to, but it was immensely difficult, and it seemed like the saddle was going to slip.  
  
"Here," Cecily, handed the bridle back to Eddie and made a cup under Severus' foot, then this time as he tried to mount, she quickly caught onto his foot and helped him swing it over the other side of the horse.  
  
Lena obediently stayed, but swished her tail a bit, she was getting a bit bored. Severus shifted a bit and finally sat down comfortably. Cecily then walked over to Sam and easily mounted. "You'll get better with time."  
  
Then Cecily held out her hand and Eddie the bridle back to her.  
  
~~~  
  
It was nearly evening and the skies painted with violet, scarlet and orange when he and Cecily made it back to the house. The lights in the house were on and pleasant smells arose form the kitchen. Cecily smiled, "It looks like Eddie and Alice are making dinner."  
  
Cecily first dismounted Sam and walked over to help Severus off Lena. It was almost as difficult as getting on since he felt stiff from riding so long. He stood and watched as Cecily took off both saddles and bridles and took them back to the shed. Then she gave each horse a firm pat and allowed them to roam out into the field. "They like sleeping outside when the weather is nice."  
  
Severus nodded as he folded his arms.  
  
The both of them walked side by side as they headed to the lighted house. Severus turned to Cecily, "I never really had friends you know.I mean, back at Hogwarts, I was feared among the students and greatly disliked by my fellow colleagues." He paused, not really sure why he was telling her this.  
  
Cecily looked at him and smiled, "Well, there's always time to try something new."  
  
"I used to be known as the slimy, greasy git." Severus smirked, now finding the name a bit amusing.  
  
Cecily laughed. "Nah, you're more of a smarmy, pompous git."  
  
"And the students thought I was a vampire."  
  
Cecily laughed. Severus raised an eyebrow, "What?"  
  
Cecily lifted his arm, "Got a nice dark tan from riding." Then she pointed at his nose, "And you're sunburned."  
  
"What?!" Severus touched his nose and winced, "I've never been sunburned."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Well, I worked in the lower part of the school and my classes took place in the dungeons, never really exposed myself to the sun much."  
  
Cecily patted him on the shoulder, "I'll bring you some Aloe Vera tomorrow. It'll make the sunburn less inflamed."  
  
Severus touched his nose again and winced.  
  
"Stop doing that stupid!"  
  
"I'm not stupid bloody woman!"  
  
And the two bickered until dinner. and then some more after dinner 


	4. chapter 4

Chapter4  
  
By bitmaxmouse  
  
Three weeks later, Severus found himself low on cash from buying food and books. Cecily was getting sick of buying food for him, so she decided to teach him how to cook. There were a few disasters. all of which were Cecily's fault (What kind of idiot didn't put a cap on, when turning on a full blender?), though she refused to admit it. He was the potions master, cooking was like second nature to him since it was so similar to potions.  
  
Cecily dropped by his house and opened the door with the key she had nicked from him and made a copy of. He would have never voluntarily given that mad woman a key to his house.  
  
"Come on!" She yelled from the entrance room. Severus. Well, it was Owen now, he had almost stopped thinking of himself as Severus for a while since he hadn't heard that name for over a month.  
  
Owen stuck his head out and glared down at Cecily. "Why are you here so early?"  
  
"Early? It's almost one o' clock!"  
  
Own looked down at his watch, another thing Cecily had managed to get him to buy even though the house was covered with them. 'Oh god. Damned book, I knew I shouldn't have tried to finish it. ended up sleeping at five in the morning.'  
  
Cecily must had read he his mind as he put a hand on her hips and clucked her tongue, "How was the book?"  
  
"Good."  
  
"Did you read it with the notes?"  
  
"Yes. If I had read that book without it, I would have never known how twisted Lewis Carroll was. It was quite interesting though, even without the notes." He mumbled as rushed down stair while buttoning up the last few button on his cobalt blue shirt.  
  
Cecily opened the jacket closet and shoved a jacket at him, "Its windy outside."  
  
Owen grabbed the jacket and muttered about stupid overbearing neighbors as he tied his boots.  
  
Then Cecily tossed him the keys, "You're driving, you need practice anyways."  
  
Owen caught the keys and followed Cecily out the door.  
  
~~~  
  
Owen sighed as he waited for the person in front of him to finish withdrawing money. He had been standing here for nearly twenty minutes and Cecily was in the car sleeping. "Stupid - "  
  
"Next!" The bank teller called out and motioned to Owen to step forward.  
  
Owen put his elbows on the wooden platform, "I'd like to make a withdraw."  
  
The lady with ugly glasses that resembled Rita the reporter's nodded, "Name."  
  
"Owen Leigh."  
  
"Do you have the account number and code?"  
  
Owen nodded. The lady then pulled out a piece of paper and told him to fill it out.  
  
Owen took a ball point pen (which was actually much nicer than a quill, since he never had to re-dip it and the ink flow was consistent, he had to remember to bring a few of these back to Hogwarts with him.) and filled out the piece of paper and the amount he wanted withdrawn. The lady nodded as she glanced at the paper and disappeared into the back.  
  
She took a while longer than the other tellers and Owen was beginning to become more annoyed by the second. Finally she came back with an envelope. "There you are Mr. Leigh, one thousand dollars."  
  
Owen nodded, signed a few more papers, took the receipt and shoved it into his pocket, and left.  
  
As he entered the car, Cecily lay there sprawled across front seat snoring loudly. Owen gave an irritated growl and kicked her. She immediately sat up and glared at him. "nng!...Goddamit you bastard! Just tell me to wake up next time!"  
  
Owen snorted, "But it's so much more fun using you as a soccer ball (something he had learned from watching T.V., though he would never admit to watching that silly color box that turned most humans into fat, grotesque zombies)."  
  
"Stupid f*cker" Cecily rubbed the leg that Owen had kicked.  
  
"Did I wake you from your beauty sleep?" Owen said with mock concern.  
  
Cecily flipped him off.  
  
"I'm just getting back at you for this morning." Owen put the key in, turned on the car, and started back home.  
  
~~~ Meanwhile the bank teller closed her window and went back into the back room and traced her finger down the list.  
  
"Good thing I tagged him." She murmured. She quickly rushed over to the phone and dialed a number she pulled out of a black book in her pocket. It was a book that every bank teller owned.  
  
"Hello?" a voice asked on the other side.  
  
"We got one." The teller said with glee in her voice.  
  
"Oh?" The man on the other side sounded interested, "Who?"  
  
"Leigh."  
  
"Good job."  
  
"Molly Wang."  
  
"You will be rewarded."  
  
"Thank you sir."  
  
With that, the phone on the other side disconnected.  
  
~~~  
  
"What is it?" Owen asked as he glanced over to at Cecily. Her expression was dark and stony and she kept flickering her eyes towards the rear view mirror.  
  
"There's someone following us." She murmured.  
  
"What?" Owen's eyes grew wide. He glanced back and saw two men in sunglasses driving a silver Lincoln Mercury. At that moment he wished that he hadn't kept his magical belonging under his bed. They stopped at a red light. The car that had been following them sat two cars behind them.  
  
Cecily put the car into park, "Hurry up, we're going to trade."  
  
Owen nodded nervously as he awkwardly climbed over to the passenger seat as Cecily climbed into his seat. Soon the light turned green, being first car in the line, Cecily slammed the accelerator. She kept tabs on the black car as the speedometer inched towards 80 miles an hour. She quickly glided over two lanes and turned right just as the intersection light turned red., then she made a sharp turn, completely circling around the concrete island and started driving left, which had now turned green.  
  
"You're insane!" Owen yelled as he gripped the handle and smashed into the door on his side.  
  
"Oh yeah?" Cecily yelled, "Look!"  
  
The men in the Lincoln Mercury ran the red light and cause three cars to collide together and started to speed towards them.  
  
"Hang on!" Cecily yelled as she made a 180 turn with the car and started to drive straight at the car.  
  
"What are you doing?!" Owen was yelling in fear now. He REALLY should have brought his wand.  
  
She sped up, the two of their cars almost collided, but at the last second, the Lincoln swerved out of the way. However they were so out of control that the car skirted a large oak tree and lost it bumper. Cecily let out a gleeful laugh.  
  
"You've done this before?!" Owen accused as he pointed his finger at her.  
  
"Well yeah! I'm wanted in 28 countries! Of course I can out drive a couple of FBI agents!"  
  
Suddenly their car lurched forward as the Lincoln bumped their car from behind. There was a bit of a traffic jam up front. Cecily made another sharp turn, this time she turn into a park just as the Lincoln collided at 100 mph into two cars in the jam.  
  
"Lets get out of here." Cecily muttered as she looked in the mirrors to made sure that the Lincoln was out of commission.  
  
They spent most of the drive back in silence. Owen still shaking a bit, he breathed deeply every few seconds to calm down. As Cecily passed by a sign with 'Madison 7 miles ' she quietly prodded Owen, "Do you know why those men were following you?"  
  
"Me?" Owen sat up, "I thought they were following you! You're a hacker and everything. This wouldn't be your first time."  
  
Cecily shook her head, "I got waived by the government when I started working for the defense company."  
  
Owen shrugged, "I don't know why they were after me!"  
  
But deep down he wondered if Voldemort still had left over Death Eaters that could have cast an Imperious Curse on some Muggle agents. 'I've only been in the Muggle world for two months and two weeks.'  
  
Cecily chewed on her bottom lip as she contemplated the situation, "Wait, you went to the bank right?"  
  
Owen nodded.  
  
"Did they have you sign something?"  
  
He nodded again.  
  
"What'd you put down?"  
  
"My name, address, social security number. oh, and these numbers that my grandmother left my mom."  
  
Cecily quickly parked the car into the side of the road and held out her hand, "Let me see."  
  
Owen handed her the folded paper. At first Cecily looked thoughtful, then her eyes widened suddenly as she noticed that the serial number was longer than usual and frowned, "You just activated an account owned by a government official."  
  
Owen nodded, "Yeah, my grandmother worked for the Muggle government."  
  
Cecily started the car and continued to drive towards Owen's house, "I bet you that she had something locked away that 'those guys' wanted. Something very important. Agents are usually more subtle than that unless they really want something."  
  
~~~  
  
The two of them quickly headed back to Owen's house. Owen brought out the two manila envelopes. And the letter. Inside, he was desperate to know what situation he was in. However, he made the mistake of forgetting what was written on it.  
  
"What's a Pureblood."  
  
"It's nothing. Just read the second paragraph." Owen called back as he pulled some food out of the fridge. Cecily read the paragraph back and forth about seven times, then she tossed it onto the table, "That's not really helpful. but wait." she murmured as she looked at the envelope.  
  
Cecily quickly ran out of the house and came back in with her black laptop. She inserted the power plug into an outlet next to the dining table. He computer quickly booted and within seconds she was typing furiously. She the held up the envelope and muttered, "Owen Leigh." Then she turned and asked loudly, "This is your name right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Do you have any aliases?"  
  
Owen hesitated for a bit, but decided it might be better to hand over the information if she could get him out of this, "Severus Snape."  
  
Cecily nodded. But then she froze, "Oh wait. damn."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I probably can't find your grandmother because your last name comes from your father's side."  
  
Owen shook his head, "My mom's last name is Leigh. My father's last name is Snape."  
  
"Oh~ I see. Oh! Well then problem solved." Cecily clapped her hands together and rubbed them gleefully like a child. Seconds later the rapid sounds of clicking could her heard from her direction. Owen made two sandwiches; Cecily quickly polished off her while she kept one hand on the keyboard and her eyes never strayed from the screen, Owen on the other hand slowly ate his food as he tried to make out whatever she was doing.  
  
Owen laid he head down on the table, quarter of a sandwich forgotten. The pain on his stomach still tinged sometimes. Not to mention the additional bruises he got from Cecily's psychotic driving. As he slowly started to fall asleep, Cecily tapped his shoulder, "Go to bed. I'm okay down here, I can tell you're in a bit of pain. Go, shoo. sleep."  
  
Owen nodded listlessly and trudged upstairs to get some rest.  
  
~~~  
  
Suddenly at three in the morning Cecily burst in loudly, "Oh my god! You need to get packing!"  
  
Owen woke up groggily, "What is it?"  
  
"You're a dead man walking. Start packing now. We need to get the hell out of here!"  
  
~~~ note: I start to use Severus Snape and Owen Leigh interchangeably now. But they are the same person. Sorry if you do get a bit confused. ~~~  
  
"Why are you coming with me again?"  
  
"Because the agents saw us together, they recognize me. They'll be after me too anyways. And besides, I'm probably in trouble now for helping you."  
  
Owen glared at the dashboard that was glowing green and read 5: 47. "Could you at least explain why we're running away? You freaked out so much that I didn't even think why I followed your stupid orders."  
  
Cecily was silent for a second and then she let out a shuddering sigh, something was really wrong, "Look I found out something about your grandmother. Annie Leigh. The government entrusted her to hold onto some very important Kennedy files. She was one of the few who had the vital files, it was spread out amongst several people over the years. Most of the entrusted people were loyal to those behind the assassination. Except your grandmother was a bit of a wild card. They didn't tell her what they had given her, but they told her to either hold onto the files or lose her job. Another condition was that she couldn't open the files to look at them, and even if she did they would have killed her if she breathed a word about it. "  
  
Owen didn't respond, it was obvious that he didn't know whose she was talking about. "Okay, Kennedy was the 35th president of the U.S. He was assassinated somewhere during November of 1963. His case has been extremely controversial because after nearly fifty year, the public still doesn't know who killed him. I've read in some files that the men trying to cover up the controversy, some very powerful senators.."  
  
Owen was silent, Cecily glanced over, "You getting this?"  
  
He nodded, "Go on."  
  
"The thing is though, the courts made an order a few years ago to reopen the case after the infamous JFK movie came out. The vast amount of petitions from the public demanded that they know what happened despite National Security. So in about fifty years the case will reopen. However, right now the evidence behind Kennedy's death is starting to disappear. Stuff like his brain matter, since it probably contradicted the law of physics with that ridiculous lone bullet theory."  
  
Owen raised an eyebrow. "Lone bullet?"  
  
"I'll get the movie for you. You'll get it. Anyways, let me finish." Cecily licked her lips, her mouth was dry from talking so much, "The reason why you're being chased it that they want to get rid of all the evidence and because you inherited the file, but you weren't included under the conditions of the contract. Only your grandmother and your mother were."  
  
"Why didn't they get rid of it in the first place?"  
  
"Because they gave it to her after the case was over, they figured, case closed, they had nothing to worry about. Then suddenly it's reopened a few years ago, they were kind of jittery at first, but when they realized that your family had gone 'missing'. They thought they had nothing to worry about. Then all of a sudden, you show up. Now you're their number one target."  
  
"How did they know I showed up?"  
  
"They must have kept tabs on all the banks that your grandmother had accounts in, the moment it was activated, one of the tellers would report it."  
  
"Shit."  
  
Suddenly a thought flittered across Owen's mind, 'I could use my potions and return myself to that slimy, sickly look.' He crawled into the back seat.  
  
"What are you doing?" Cecily asked as she watched him from the rear mirror.  
  
He pulled the latch on the back seat so that the trunk was accessible, "I'm looking for my potions. We can probably change our looks or something. now where is it.."  
  
"Wait, you mean that huge trunk you left near the entrance?"  
  
"Yes." Severus' heart froze, Cecily's tone was very suspicious.  
  
"Uh. I left that behind."  
  
"You WHAT?!" Severus screamed.  
  
"I left that fucking heavy trunk behind! Did you not hear me?"  
  
"WHY?!" His brain was starting to run a mile a minute, 'My potions, she left my potions.'  
  
"Because we have to travel light! We might even have to ditch the car since I'm sure those agents have the license plate number down!"  
  
"You left them behind! They could have saved us I could have changed our looks!"  
  
"No, you could have changed YOUR looks, I'm a Muffle ("MUGGLE!" Owen yelled.) remember? You think I don't listen? I know that your potions won't work on me. And you aren't leaving me to take the blame you bastard. I swear to god, if you leave me behind and I'll tell them everything I know and I'll help them hunt you down. You know I can." Cecily's voice was vicious now, with no trace of the friendliness that she had shown for the last month.  
  
Severus was hyperventilating, "My.. oh god."  
  
"What is it?" Cecily gritted out between clenched teeth.  
  
"My wand was in the. the trunk. We have to go back!"  
  
"We can't! We're already out of Madison County! And we need to keep going! If we stop they'll find us!"  
  
"We're going back!" Severus reached for Cecily's arm and they swerved on the highway.  
  
Cecily screamed as she shoved Severus away, "You almost killed us bastard!"  
  
"We need to go back, I need to get my wand!"  
  
"Forget your wand! It's probably gone now!"  
  
"What do you mean?!"  
  
"You think those agent aren't already at your house? You think they haven't confiscated it already?"  
  
"No!" Severus leaped forward again. A car honked loudly behind them as the car swerved once more. Cecil shoved Severus back and then opened the glove compartment and reached in. She pull out a Taser, turned it on and pressed it against Severus.  
  
Severus let out a yell and then fell back limply.  
  
Cecily let out an angry huff as she threw the Taser into the passenger seat, just close enough for her to reach. Then she turned her attention back onto the road and turned onto the lane towards Chicago.  
  
"Idiot." She muttered.  
  
Cont. Author's note: Eh.yeah that entire Kennedy part. ~_~ it's what happens when you mix drugs (medical. but drugs none the less) and JFK the movie 


End file.
